Times Bureau Chief Sniffs at ACORN, Glenn Beck

Washington bureau chief Dean Baquet sniffs at ACORN and Glenn Beck, and suggests Obama-related scandals aren't big news: "For Glenn Beck to devote 45 minutes of his show to ACORN and Van Jones says more about his news judgment than mine....He's not a newsman and that's not a news show."

By

Clay Waters

September 16, 2009 - 1:04pm

Examining how the right is driving Obama scandal stories ignored by mainstream media, Politico's [1]Michael Calderone and Mike Allen [1]quoted a series of news executives, including Times Washington bureau chief Dean Baquet, who sniffed at Glenn Beck's news judgment and downplayed the significance of the ACORN and Van Jones scandals.

His paper has followed his lead, almost ignoring both the hidden camera sting and resulting woes for left-wing activist groupACORN[2], and the controversy over Truther and prominent Obama environmental adviser Van [3]Jones[3].

From the Tuesday Politico article:

But news executives argue that they have limited staff and resources, and there is a lot more to cover on a daily basis than a handful of controversies stirred up primarily on the right.

"For Glenn Beck to devote 45 minutes of his show to ACORN and Van Jones says more about his news judgment than mine," said Dean Baquet, Washington bureau chief of the New York Times.

"He's not a newsman and that's not a news show," Baquet continued. "He's not trying to cover the economy, two wars, health care, the aftermath from one administration to another, negotiations with Iran or North Korea."

Baquet said he agreed with Times managing editor Jill Abramson, who responded to readers on NYTimes.com that the paper was "a beat behind" on the Jones story. The paper, he said, should have run a piece when Jones apologized for radical statements and an affiliation with a 9/11 "truther" group prior to his resignation.

Still, Baquet said he doesn't think "not being all over the Van Jones story is a mortal sin."

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